The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 2) — Page 620
CH. 7 AL-A'RĀF PT. 9 وَلَوْ شِئْنَا لَرَفَعْنَهُ بِهَا وَلكِنَّ أَخْلَدَ And if We had pleased, We. 177 JESTES SEVIJI could have exalted him thereby; إِلَى الْأَرْضِ وَاتَّبَعَ هَومَهُ فَمَثَلُهُ كَمَثَلِ but he inclined to the earth and followed his evil inclination. His case therefore is like the الْكَلْبِ إِنْ تَحْمِلُ عَلَيْهِ يَلْهَثْ اَوْ تَتْرُكْهُ يَلْهَثْ ذَلِكَ مَثَلُ الْقَوْمِ الَّذِينَ case of a thirsty dog; if thou drive him away, he hangs out كَذَّبُوا بِايْتِنَا ۚ فَاقْصُصِ الْقَصَصَ his tongue; and if thou leave لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ him, he hangs out his tongue. Such is the case of the people who disbelieve in Our Signs. So off its skin. means, I pulled off or stripped off her shirt. means, we passed the month, or passed forth from the month. One would say i. e. the plant shed its foliage and became leafless and then became green again. means, he or it became stripped, or he or it passed, or he quitted a thing entirely. They say a i. e. the serpent came off, or divested itself of, its slough. dis means, he or it became altogether separated from it; or he or it quitted it entirely (Lane & Aqrab). (followed him up). is derived from. They say i. e. he followed him or it, or he went or walked after him or it. besides giving the causative sense is also used like in the sense of following. They say i. e. he followed his footsteps; he sought him; also he overtook him (Lane). Commentary: The verse does not refer to any particular individual but may apply to all persons to whom God shows signs through a Prophet and who reject them. Similar expressions which do not refer to any particular individual, but are of general application, also occur elsewhere in the Quran (e. g. 2:18). The verse under comment has been applied to one Bal'am bin Bā‘ūra who, it is related, lived in the time of Moses. He is reported to have been a virtuous man, but pride turned his head and he ended in disgrace. But the verse also aptly describes also the case of Abū Jahl who had clearly seen and even admitted the truth of the Holy Prophet, but proudly and scornfully remarked that his people had never owed allegiance to the house of 'Abd Manāf, a progenitor of the Holy Prophet. The verse may equally 1060 apply to ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salūl, the arch-hypocrite, who witnessed many signs establishing the truth of the Holy Prophet and even apparently professed his faith in him, but at heart ever remained his implacable enemy.